Transitioning to SCALE-UP

For most of our history, the Department of Physics at Miami University taught lecture and lab as separate courses, co-requisites. Our students had typical student problems; they did not like when lecture and lab got out of synch, they did not know how to start their homework problems, and we often had a DFW rate of over 20%. Several years ago, when we moved to a new building (and got to renovate it), we had the chance to design classrooms and start teaching with the SCALE-UP method. SCALE-UP, which stands for Student-Centered Activities for Large-Enrollment Undergraduate Programs, has been shown to increase student success. In this talk I will discuss our transition to this new way of teaching, including challenges both anticipated and unanticipated, and share some data evaluating the program.